"Atrocity Exhibition"

Remember, remember the 5th of November? I bloody won't nor, I suspect, will any of the other 40,037 unfortunate souls who witnessed Monday's instantly forgettable encounter with Roy Keane's Sunderland. It was a dour affair, but the only moment of genuine quality from Stephen Ireland was enough to secure the three points and return City to third spot in the Premiership, incredibly just two points behind Arsenal and Manchester United.

Ireland, of course, displayed his customary stupidity by dropping his shorts in celebration, to reveal a pair of Superman underpants. Considering his recent misdemeanours perhaps Supergran pants would have been more appropriate. On his Bebo website, Ireland goes by the monicker 'Daddy Dick', but it didn't look like he had an awful lot to boast about. To be fair it was a bitterly cold Mancunian evening. He will now presumably face disciplinary action from the officious suits at Soho Square.

Thankfully the DJ at City has more of a sense of humour, playing The Jam's That's Entertainment at half time. Untertainment, more like. A more appropriate soundtrack might have been Joy Division's Atrocity Exhibition. Make no mistake, this was as bad as the fare served up by Stuart Pearce's team last season. But City fans aren't complaining; with almost a third of the season played we remain in the top three, ahead of more illustrious rivals Chelsea and Liverpool.

An equally drab encounter with Bolton in midweek saw City scrape through to the quarter finals of the League Cup, with a home tie against Spurs looming. Incredibly (or tragically, depending on your view point) victory against Juande Ramos' side would mean our first semi-final for 26 years. I appreciate that many fans bemoan their clubs' lack of success, but to not reach the last four of any competition of note for over a quarter of century is some achievement, even by City's phenomenally low standards. We'll lose against Spurs, of course. That's a given. We're destined never to win anything in my lifetime.

Our squad is looking a little threadbare at present, with injuries to Micah Richards, Nedum Onuoha, Michael Johnson, and Valerie Bojinov, and we've rode our luck on more than one occasion this season, but that shouldn't detract from what Eriksson has achieved. City have recorded an unprecedented seven straight victories at home, conceding just two goals in the process. The contrast to last season's home form under Stuart Pearce, where we went a staggering 740 minutes without even scoring a goal, couldn't be more marked.

One wonders what could be achieved once the current crop of imports and academy graduates gain further Premiership experience, and new recruits are added in January (we're currently being linked with Herenveen's free scoring Alfonso Alves, although our history of signing forwards from Eredivisie will stop us from getting too carried away). Could we get a top ten finish? UEFA Cup qualification? Or, god forbid, a cup semi-final?! Our demands aren't unreasonable...

Ric Turner
www.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk

Comments

[Rob]

My goodness. Dour defensively... is Sven an uglier Jose?

[guy burke]

the last 2 home games have hardly been classics, however compared to last season sven and his merry men are way ahead of schedule - my pre season prediction of the domestic treble is still looking good ?